8 days went by in a flash...Today is the last day of MSTERIO SUMMER CAMP.

Everyone was running around, packing and setting up the dining hall for the Farewell Party.

At 11:30, the family members of the campers started to arrive. Let the Farewell Party begin!

The opening performance was a collaboration between Music and Calligraphy, directed by the two activity directors, Aika & Kotaro. On the stage, the campers danced with paper fans in their hands to "WASSHOI MSTERIO", an original song by Aika. In front of the stage, the other campers dipped their large calligraphy brushes into buckets of ink and let it dance to the music on the white calligraphy paper spread across the floor. What did they write? Anything that came to mind. They let the music inspire them. This was truly the most powerful improvisational collaboration ever!

All of the kanjis written on the calligraphy paper represented nature: "Sky" by Kiwa, "Wind" by Daiya, "Tree" by Keisuke, "Flower" by Satomi, "Forest" by Shoko, "Summer" by Luna, "Self" by Tomoya, "zen(in combination with Tomoya's kanji, means Nature)" by Ken, "Live" by Mariya, "Rain" by Riou, "Plant" by Yuuka, "Mountain" by Meri, and "Earth" by Shige. Every stroke, every brush, full of energy and strength, the children had created masterpieces.

Surrounding the stage were "WINDS" written by the other campers during classes. This performance shed light on some of the core Japanese values such as "harmony", "link", and "bond".

After the show, we all enjoyed the wonderful rice ball lunch box made by our WoodyMock staff members.

When the brief intermission was over, we were all ready for part II of the performance!

Now it was time for a musical performance of "It's a Hard Knock Life" by the MSTERIO Dancing Crew, lead by TAKAKO. The members were Akari, Kiwa, Mao, Tomomi, Megumi, Meri, Ami, Erina, Mari, Miki, Mariya, Wakana, Shoko, Yoko, Rio, Moe, Taku, Airi, Max. They sang and danced so beautifully, we found it hard to believe they only had a week to perfect it!

The finale was of course, the annual play by the Senior Campers and CITs(Counselor In Training). This year, they did an original play, written and directed by the activity director, Seiko.

The play starts with a flashback scene of Megu, a middle school girl, walking in the rain with an umbrella. The story "You+You" played by the 8 MSTERIO campers revolves around the protagonist.

Surprisingly, as soon as the rainy scene began, it started to thunder and rain outside as if it had been cued to do so. During this scene, the actors faced the challenge of jumping one single jump rope together. At practice, it was difficult for the 6 of them to do 20 continuous jumps with out messing up. However on stage, with unbelievable determination and focus, they successfully completed 20 jumps consecutively!!

This year the half-an-hour play was put on by 8 actors, much fewer compared to last year, which meant more lines and acting skills were required from each of the actors. What does "Friendship" mean? The actors' comprehension of the complex emotions of the sensitive teenagers made the play real and heart-gripping.

As the end of the performance neared, it was finally time for the graduation ceremony of our CIT campers, Yoko and Maki. This year, Mao and Maya appeared from the crowd onto the stage where Yoko and Maki stood. No one saw the two plates full of whip cream behind them. "SPLAT!" With a loud sound, the plates met Yoko and Maki's faces and they were covered in thick white whip cream. We can't end MSTERIO without this tradition of pieing the graduates!

After one of the campers, Mariya, presented her artwork and MSTERIO coin as a gift to the WoodyMock staff members, we all sang the MSTERIO song in unison as a closure to the 8 days we spent together at MSTERIO.

This year, we didn't have a single broken bone nor a single trip to the hospital. We were able to make many new discoveries together by carrying out this year's slogan, Be Bold & Do Something and challenging ourselves to step out to try something new.

Thank you to all the campers, the special guests, the staff members, the WoodyMock staffs who made us delicious meals everyday, and most of all, to the parents who entrusted MSTERIO to take care of their precious children during this difficult time in Japan. THANK YOU FOR THE BEST SUMMER EVER!

We took lots of amazing photographs during the 8 days of camp. Please be patient while we organize them for the MSTERIO albums on the web!